


Let the rain fall

by orphan_account



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheesy, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:43:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Kyuhyun is your typical overworked IT support guy. Jongwoon is your typical beatnik cafe owner. Together they <s>fight crime!</s> find out being impulsive can be a good thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let the rain fall

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Kyusung Fest 2012. Re-posted very late because RL is a bitch. This was my [image prompt](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m46hnbZIS31qfqm2lo1_500.jpg) and text: 'When you pass those people on the street and think "hey, they're my type" but you don't say anything. It's possible the other thinks the same thing, but does nothing as well.' Bonus points if you know the super cheesy song I used for the title!

The first time Kyuhyun sees Jongwoon, he doesn’t really notice the other man until they bump into each other in the light drizzle. Kyuhyun’s on his way to work, at a job where barely anyone notices if he’s late or not because they think he’s a weird little geek who knows more about computers and numbers than about human interaction. He usually finds himself staring out the dirty window just beyond his crappy little office cubicle, wondering what it would be like to just sweep everything off his desk and tell his boss to take his job and screw himself. Today, just like any other day, Kyuhyun just wants to get out of the rain and to his desk so that he can finish whatever jobs get flung at him and get out of the office on time for once.

Kyuhyun’s MP3 player is blasting cheesy pop music from the 90s in his ears as he waits at a junction for a traffic light to change. His office is about a block away from the subway station, and Kyuhyun is grateful for the walk for at least providing him with a glimpse of what the weather outside is like before he’s swallowed up in bland corporate corridors and soulless cubicles. He starts mouthing along to the Take That song that he’s heard a thousand times before and as he finishes the first verse of _Pray_ , people begin to cross the road. Kyuhyun follows the surge, not really making the effort to avoid anyone, but trying to keep out of their way if he can. He’s holding a big white umbrella that has his company’s logo of a smiling duck printed on one panel and he clutches it tightly in his hand as he navigates the sea of people in front of him.

He’s almost on the other side of the road when his shoulder collides with someone else’s. The impact is enough to jolt him out of his self-induced reverie.

“Sorry…” the word is already halfway out of Kyuhyun’s mouth when he registers the person he’s just bumped into.

The man staring back at him smiles half-heartedly, looking slightly perturbed, but not aggressively annoyed. Kyuhyun registers his thick, dark hair, slightly wet from the rain (unlike Kyuhyun he has no umbrella) and falling in his eyes, eyes a deep, rich shade of brown. And his mouth. Kyuhyun can’t look away. The man has a perfect Cupid’s bow and full, luscious bottom lip. Kyuhyun’s always been a sucker for a pretty mouth and gorgeous eyes, and the guy in front of him looks as though he was made expressly for Kyuhyun to fall in love with.

Kyuhyun hopes the man doesn’t notice him staring. God, he feels so awkward and unsure of himself. He sketches a quick bow in apology and hurries on his way, looking back just in time to see the man get swallowed up in the crowd. 

Flustered, Kyuhyun turns away, irritated at himself. Why the hell should he care about whether some random stranger — a really hot stranger, but a stranger nonetheless — noticed him or not? He’s got better things to do than wonder about chance meetings in the street. That sort of thing only happens in the movies anyway.

He gets to the office ten minutes late, but no one even looks at him when he finally arrives at his desk and boots up his computer, ready to tackle the day’s support requests that will mostly require minimal actual effort and maximum patience. As he slides down into his chair, Kyuhyun wonders what the stranger he bumped into on his way to work was doing out in the rain with no umbrella. 

_Not even a raincoat._ He thinks, clicking his way through several football websites. _Who does that? Either he’s so absent-minded he forgot to check what the weather was like before he left his house, or he’s the sort of asshole who thinks he’s special enough not to have to bother about getting wet._

Both possibilities make Kyuhyun feel embarrassed that he’s even thinking about this at all. He comforts himself with the knowledge that it isn’t often he meets anyone of the street who manages to tick all the boxes on his checklist of ‘hot guys I’d really like to sleep with’.

Not that he’s actually going to be sleeping with that guy any time soon. Or with anyone, for that matter. Kyuhyun’s love life is so dead his friend Changmin suggested holding a funeral for it during one of their regular drinking sessions. Kyuhyun threatened him with an empty beer bottle, but the joke had hit a nerve and he’d felt sorry for himself the rest of the night.

“Yo, Cho!” A hand appears over the cubicle partition and Kyuhyun glances up from watching a video of a professional Starcraft tournament. “Answer your phone, huh?”

With a start, Kyuhyun realises the telephone on his desk has been ringing for some time. Sheepishly, he thanks his co-worker and picks it up, already feeling grumpy even before the staff member on the other end of the line starts asking him why his computer isn’t turning on.

“Have you checked it’s plugged in?” Kyuhyun asks, feeling irritation begin to tighten the muscles in his shoulders and trying to keep his annoyance out of his voice. 

“Um.” The staff member starts, and finds that the power cord to his laptop isn’t even attached. Kyuhyun wants to bang his head against his desk, but he reminds himself that this is only his first call of the day. With a sigh of resignation he loads a game of Counter Strike and waits for the rest of the calls to come in.

Over the next eight hours fielding calls from whining sales staff and self-important middle managers, Kyuhyun manages to forget about the mystery man he met in the morning commute to work. There are too many idiots wanting him to fix problems they could have solved themselves if they were a bit more proactive and stopped using him as an excuse to take an extended lunch break. So he pushes the stranger to the back of his mind and concentrates on setting a new high score in Halo whilst fielding calls about databases and non-functioning monitors. 

That is until he gets out of the office and spots the same guy a few metres in front of him. It looks as though he’s just leaving one of the other office buildings next to Kyuhyun’s, the collar of his coat turned up against the rain, which hasn’t stopped falling. 

Kyuhyun holds on to his umbrella and wonders if this is some kind of sign from the universe. He can’t quite figure out what it’s trying to tell him, though. They both seem to be headed in the same direction, and Kyuhyun sees that the guy is wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses that seem almost cartoonish, they’re so big and bulky, but he manages to carry them off with enough confidence so that it makes him look like some kind of beatnik poet. Which just ticks another box on Kyuhyun’s mental list. He’s always had something for artistic types. It might stem from his total inability to draw or paint or make music that doesn’t have the neighbours banging on the walls whenever he plays his piano. But this guy seems as though he’d be the kind of man to set up some low-key jazz bar and sing to the mournful accompaniment of a trumpet.

Damn. He must be more deprived than he thought. Maybe he should give that internet dating site that Changmin keeps talking to him about a try. Perhaps he might get lucky and _not_ end up with some middle-aged pervert who has an unhealthy attraction to peanut butter.

Yeah, right. That’s never happening to him. Maybe some incredibly lucky guy somewhere will find Mr Perfect surfing the personals at SeoulMates.com, but Cho Kyuhyun will never get that chance. He’s struck out far too many times to even consider it.

At the same set of traffic lights at the junction where they first bumped into each other, Kyuhyun turns to find the stranger just beside him, his dark eyes fixed on the road in front and his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His gaze lingers on the stranger’s lips again, just before the other man catches him staring and looks up. Their eyes meet and Kyuhyun doesn’t really expect the flash of _wanting_ to hit him quite as hard as it does. The man is so, so gorgeous, and Kyuhyun can’t stop staring at those eyes and lips and messy hair. He wants to run a hand through it and hold on while they kiss under the dirty yellow glow of a streetlight, then take the guy back home to his messy studio apartment so they can have sex and talk about stupid, inconsequential stuff and argue over what movie to watch later...

Ah, shit. There he goes with the daydreams again. The signal sounds that it’s safe to cross and Kyuhyun jerks himself back to reality. He fully expects the man to look away, probably thinking he’s a weirdo for staring so long, but to Kyuhyun’s surprise, the guy holds his stare and smiles. It’s a shy, tentative smile; friendly, rather than overbearing, and it seems fairly genuine.

And then some imp in Kyuhyun takes this as encouragement, even while his brain is yelling at him to stop, stop for God’s sake you’re being such an idiot, oh my God don’t embarrass yourself — 

“Uh… Hi there, want to share an umbrella?”

Kyuhyun winces inwardly as he hears the words leave his mouth. Christ, how unbelievably stupid and dorky he sounds. Like some sort of creepy loner with a crush. But he makes himself stretch out his arm and hold the umbrella over the stranger’s head as well, which turns out to be a good thing because the heavens suddenly decide to open and rain begins to pelt down with frightening intensity.

“Sounds like a good idea. Thank you,” the stranger says. Kyuhyun decides that some deity somewhere must either really hate him, or think that he’s been doing an awesome job with his life so far. The man’s voice is husky and rich, like smooth dark chocolate mixed with the finest wine. It makes something in his belly leap and Kyuhyun thinks he would be quite content to listen to the guy read out the technical manual to his new wireless server. Or anything really.

“No problem,” he hears himself reply. “It’s really bad weather we’ve been having this last week. We’ll be lucky if the whole city doesn’t float away.”

The man laughs, the sound of it going through Kyuhyun and making him even more nervous about acting like an idiot. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I always get seasick on boats.”

They’re on the other side of the road now, and Kyuhyun doesn’t know what to say (apart from ‘I’m shit at tying knots so I’d be useless on a boat too’ — which just sounds stupid), so he sticks his hand out and introduces himself.

“Cho Kyuhyun.”

The stranger smiles. A real, friendly smile, wide and full of teeth. “Kim Jongwoon.”

Rain falls around them, drumming down hard on the umbrella Kyuhyun holds. 

“Thanks for the shelter.” Jongwoon’s smile really is quite infectious. Kyuhyun finds himself grinning back like an idiot. Then, Jongwoon catches sight of the company logo on the umbrella.

“Hey! I know your where you work! I’ve delivered coffee there once or twice!”

Kyuhyun’s puzzlement must show on his face, because Jongwoon laughs before explaining that he’s the owner of a small cafe that’s not too far away, and sometimes he does deliveries for office workers who don’t have the time to leave their desks. He’s been to the building where Kyuhyun works a few times before, but always to the accounts department. 

“But I don’t think I’ve seen you,” he finishes, looking over Kyuhyun quite blatantly. Kyuhyun doesn’t know what to do, so he shuffles his feet and looks down to make sure his laces are tied. “I’m right, aren’t I? You work at Park Beverages?”

“Yeah.” Kyuhyun makes a face. They start walking towards Kyuhyun’s subway station without discussing where they’re actually going. “I just work in IT support, though. I don’t get to brew the beer or taste test the soju or anything exciting like that. I do things like tell people to try turning their computer off and on if they have a problem with it.”

Wow. That was smooth. Kyuhyun wishes he was back at his desk and fielding more calls about why the internet is broken. At least he’d have a better success rate. Obviously his attempts to impress Jongwoon are doomed to epic failure.

Jongwoon is quiet for a moment as they walk past a gaggle of schoolgirls waving pink umbrellas and talking excitedly about makeup and fashion tips. “I don’t know. I think that you must have the patience of a saint if you deal with all those sorts of problems everyday. Besides, how do you know you’re not all that exciting? I hear a lot of things from the customers in my cafe. Often the people with the most amazing stories are the ones who seem the most straight-laced. Just the other day one of my regulars told me he flew to Jeju to meet someone he’d met on the internet who liked to dress up as a pig and be spanked. And let me tell you, this guy? He’s an accountant who wears the most boring cardigans and parts his hair in the middle.”

_Jesus. Just what kind of customers go to Jongwoon’s cafe?_

Kyuhyun tries a laugh. “Honestly, I’m not as exciting as all that. I’ve only just started working at the company so I don’t even know half the people on my floor.”

“And yet here you are talking to a random stranger you only met this morning.” 

They’re at the entrance to the station now. Hordes of commuters swarm around them, all desperately in a hurry to get somewhere while Kyuhyun just stands still and wonders what to say to Jongwoon. But he’s been too stunned by the revelation that Jongwoon remembers him from just a few hours ago to think of anything clever.

The fact that Jongwoon _noticed_ him makes Kyuhyun want to jump around like one of those schoolgirls at an idol concert, but it also scares him a little. What on earth is he supposed to do now?

Jongwoon laughs. “Don’t look so worried! Of course I remember you from earlier on! I don’t happen to bump into such cute IT workers all the time, Kyuhyun. And most of them don’t offer me umbrellas when I’ve been stupid enough to break the only working one I have.”

He digs in his pockets while Kyuhyun just stands and stares. 

_Cute? He thinks I’m_ cute _?? Does that mean he thinks I look like I’m seventeen, or is he actually hitting on me? What the hell am I supposed to do now? Maybe he just thinks I’m a loser and he feels sorry for me and … and…_

“Here.” Jongwoon shoves a business card into Kyuhyun’s free hand. “Why don’t you visit me sometime, when you’re not telling someone how to turn their computer on? Ah, shit. I’m late for my friend’s gig, but thanks again for the umbrella, Kyuhyun. You’ve been a lifesaver. I like a man with some initiative.”

He ducks away into the crowd, gone before Kyuhyun can recover his wits.

_Smooth, Cho. Real smooth._

***

That is how Kyuhyun finds himself at Jongwoon’s poky little cafe the next Friday evening, after he’s finished work for the day. It’s been an especially trying week as well, with a new e-mail system that’s in the final stages of testing before it’s rolled out and Kyuhyun has been asked to log bug reports whilst still fielding the same inane phone calls.

He almost doesn’t make it to the cafe, too, because just as he’s about to head out the door, another distressed lady from marketing calls and wants him to explain why her computer screen has gone blank suddenly and destroyed the past six hours of her work. Kyuhyun ends up diagnosing it as a hard drive failure, which means he’ll have even more work and probably have to come back on the weekend to make sure the lady gets her computer back in time for the marketing department’s next big presentation to the CEO.

So it’s much later than he would like when Kyuhyun finally pushes open the door to the cafe. He finds himself enveloped immediately in a warm coffee-scented haze, which is a welcome relief from the over-sanitised air he’s been breathing at the office all day. Jongwoon’s cafe is an intimate affair, with several booths nestled against one wall, two or three battered-looking tables and chairs, and a massive display counter at the back of the room where the cakes are kept, along with frighteningly complicated espresso machine that’s hissing steam. 

Jongwoon is there as well, dressed in black jeans and a dark denim shirt, with the sleeves pushed up as he grinds beans and tampers the grounds. He’s smiling and talking to his assistant, who bears a striking resemblance to Jongwoon. Kyuhyun watches as Jongwoon tops a cup up with frothed milk, slides it at a harried waitress and sees him standing at the door like an idiot. There is a moment where he just holds on to his milk jug and stares, and Kyuhyun doesn’t know what to do. Maybe Jongwoon doesn’t remember their conversation about boats and deceptively uninteresting customers. But then Jongwoon smiles his extra-wide smile and beckons him over.

Kyuhyun manages to make his way over to the counter without tripping over his feet, which suddenly feel two sizes too big for him. He considers this a minor success.

“Here’s my umbrella-wielding IT guy! I was wondering if you were ever going to show.” Jongwoon’s tone is teasing, and he mock pouts, which makes Kyuhyun even more aware of the fullness of his bottom lip. “What happened to you out there, Kyuhyun? Did you have some kind of unexpected adventure and forget to visit?”

“I wish.” Kyuhyun rolls his eyes. “I’ve had the dullest week at work. But I just finished and I thought I’d come and see what kind of place you run.”

He takes out a small folding umbrella from his laptop bag. The secretaries keep strict tabs on the box of company-branded umbrellas and mugs on his floor, but Kyuhyun managed to sneak this one out just as he was leaving last night. It’s a lame present, but he hopes Jongwoon will find it amusing, if nothing else.

“You, uh. You said you didn’t have a working umbrella and it’s been so rainy recently so… here, I got you this.” Kyuhyun shoves the umbrella at Jongwoon without meeting his eyes. 

Jongwoon takes it from Kyuhyun and looks at the little cartoon printed on the fabric. “Hey, you’ve changed the picture!”

Kyuhyun’s picked out the baby duck that’s so beloved by Park Beverages’ CEO with a penknife and replaced it with a sticker version of Jongwoon’s logo of a land tortoise holding a cup of coffee and a guitar instead. He’s covered the whole thing with a spray that’s supposed to make it waterproof. It took him the better part of three hours he’d usually spend playing Diablo 3 online with his friends, but Kyuhyun didn’t really mind.

Jongwoon whistles under his breath. “Wow! That’s some sweet workmanship there, Kyuhyun. And you did this just because you felt sorry for me getting wet?”

Well. Kyuhyun decides now is probably not the right time (or the place) for him to say that a large part of his motivation for customising an entire umbrella for Jongwoon is due to him finding Jongwoon insanely attractive. 

“Call me Kyu,” he says, trying not to blush. “Everyone does. I felt bad that you were out doing deliveries with no shelter, and we’ve got stacks of these things lying around the office anyway. No one really uses them. And I thought you should have something with your cafe’s logo on it. That tortoise is much cuter than some duck with a big butt, and, you know. Free advertising doesn’t hurt, right?”

“Right, yeah. Thank you.” Jongwoon weighs the umbrella in his hand, his eyes never leaving Kyuhyun’s face. It’s like he’s searching for something, and Kyuhyun feels as though he’s being put through some kind of test. “Look, I don’t know if I can accept this, Kyu.”

The momentary thrill of hearing Jongwoon address him informally is cancelled out almost immediately by what he’s actually saying. Kyuhyun blinks.

“What?”

_Did he not like the present…? He just said he was impressed, though. So what does that mean?_

The corners of Jongwoon’s eyes crinkle when he laughs. Kyuhyun can’t help noticing this little detail when Jongwoon lets loose with a hearty chuckle. It’s like the final tick in the last checkbox on his mental list. Jongwoon has him hooked so bad.

“Relax, bro! You’re too tense. I meant I can’t accept this without giving you something else in return.”

Relief rushes through Kyuhyun, sweet and welcome. It turns quickly to lust when Jongwoon leans closer and Kyuhyun can smell his warm, spicy scent, mixed with the heady aroma of the coffee around them. He wants to find out if Jongwoon tastes as good as he smells. Suddenly, Kyuhyun’s really glad the countertop is high enough to block Jongwoon’s view of his too-tight trousers.

“Listen, I don’t finish up here for another hour or so, but do you mind waiting for me?”

It doesn’t even take two seconds for Kyuhyun to think about his answer. He knows it makes him sound overanxious and eager to please, but right now he doesn’t care all that much. For someone like Jongwoon to be hitting on him at all is some kind of freak event, surely. Kyuhyun’s not one to miss out on opportunities when they’re presented to him.

“Of course!” 

“Great!” Jongwoon puts the umbrella on a shelf below the countertop and grins and Kyuhyun. “Now, I’m going to make you the best cup of coffee you’ve had all week, Cho Kyuhyun. And it’s on the house because I think you should be rewarded for being such a nice bastard. Don’t argue with me. Go and sit down.” Kyuhyun’s stomach chooses that moment to growl loudly enough for Jongwoon to hear it. “Yes, and I suppose I could find a sandwich for you to munch on, too. Now go and have a seat before my other customers complain about you monopolising my time.”

“Sorry,” Kyuhyun mutters, not feeling sorry at all.

Jongwoon winks, then makes a shooing motion with his hand as a bedraggled young woman steps up to the counter to order a soy de-caf latte.

Kyuhyun finds an unoccupied booth and slides into it. He can see the street from here, and it looks as though it’s begun to rain again, great drops of water splashing down onto the pavement as passersby try to keep themselves and their belongings dry. Jongwoon’s small cafe is located off a quiet lane in Hongdae, but seems to be quite popular with office workers and younger university students who drop in for a quick espresso. 

Both Jongwoon and his assistant prove popular with the various customers wandering in and out of the cafe, even at this late hour. One of them, a wiry student with the most ridiculous haircut Kyuhyun’s ever seen — it’s all jagged edges and green tips — and a backpack that’s falling apart, has an extended conversation with Jongwoon about something that requires lots of hand gestures and totally unnecessary touching between the two. Jealousy is a completely illogical feeling, of course, and Kyuhyun’s known Jongwoon for little more than a week, but he still feels like smacking the student’s stupid grin off his face when the guy reaches out and tugs on Jongwoon’s ear with a grin.

Perhaps the student can feel Kyuhyun’s murderous glare from across the room, because he glances in his direction, looking slightly confused. Jongwoon turns his head as well, and Kyuhyun dives for his work laptop quickly, powering it up even as he watches Jongwoon turn back to his friend and start talking again.

 _That was close…_ Kyuhyun’s finger hover over his keyboard as the laptop slowly comes to life. He’s left the marketing lady’s broken computer at the office, but hasn’t logged it in as an issue just yet, so he calls up the reporting program and starts entering in details.

He gets about halfway through before a hand suddenly sets a steaming cup of coffee down in front of him. Kyuhyun looks up guiltily to see Jongwoon frowning at him.

“You are _not_ doing work in here, are you?” 

“Well, you said you were busy, so I thought I’d take advantage of your free wi-fi and get a few things done so I don’t have so much when I go in tomorrow.”

Jongwoon makes a face. “They make you work on the weekends as well? Doesn’t the CEO of Park Beverages know that his best IT guy needs a couple days off not dealing with idiots?”

Kyuhyun ducks his head so Jongwoon won’t see him blushing. “I’m not the best guy Mr Park has. There’s loads of other people who work twice as fast as me.”

“I doubt it. Anyway, I don’t know any of them, and they certainly didn’t make me a customised umbrella, did they?” Jongwoon slides a platter onto the table. It’s piled high with steaming hot fries and a hamburger that’s about the size of Kyuhyun’s head. The smell coming from it all is enough to make Kyuhyun feel slightly dizzy, he’s so hungry. “There you go, get that into you. Finish up what you’re doing here, but don’t do anymore work, OK? I’m not having you visiting me and then working in a corner like some tragic loner. You’ll put my customers off.”

A spark of mischief lights in Kyuhyun. He grins up at Jongwoon. “So… Would that make you finish up faster, then? Maybe if I had some company I wouldn’t look so pathetic.”

His answer obviously isn’t what Jongwoon expected because Jongwoon just rocks back on his feet and stares at Kyuhyun so intently Kyuhyun wonders what he’s said wrong this time.

Apparently nothing. Because Jongwoon leans in again, closer than he did the first time, so close Kyuhyun can feel the warmth of his skin and registers the fact that Jongwoon’s lips barely inches away from his own.

“You keep saying things like that, Mr I’m-only-a-very-boring-IT-boy, and I’ll make time for you, how’s that?”

Kyuhyun doesn’t look away from Jongwoon’s hot-eyed stare. His pulse is racing. “I’d like it very much.”

They hold each other’s gazes a moment longer and then Jongwoon’s assistant is shouting to Jongwoon that someone’s order is ready. Jongwoon grimaces and whirls away to bring another customer their food and drink, and Kyuhyun is left to his own devices again. He finishes off the report in a couple of minutes, then wolfs down his hamburger and the coffee, picking at the fries as he watches Jongwoon balance several plates on one arm whilst shouting instructions at his employees.

Outside, the rain keeps falling. Kyuhyun allows himself to wonder how the hell he’s going to get back home. His brilliant plan to give Jongwoon the umbrella has been partly foiled by the fact that, in the midst of trying to get Jongwoon’s present just perfect, Kyuhyun’s forgotten to pack his own umbrella. And now it looks as though he’s about to be punished for his rash behaviour.

Well, meeting Jongwoon again is perhaps worth the hassle of possibly getting drenched and catching a cold on the way home. Kyuhyun tells himself not to get too excited about this. They’ve only just met, after all. There’s so many things that could happen, but Kyuhyun’s just happy to have finally found someone who isn’t a complete lunatic. The last guy he had been set up with was convinced that the government had implanted radio transmitters in his ears and that it had given him telepathy. Kyuhyun had left that date before they’d finished the first course, convinced he was going to die alone.

But now. He watches Jongwoon over the rim of his coffee cup, marvelling at the way Jongwoon’s shirt rides up just enough to draw attention to the curve of his ass whenever he’s wiping down tables or working at the espresso machine. Kyuhyun doesn’t care if Jongwoon catches him looking. There’s no way he’s not going to appreciate being able to finally flirt with a hot guy again. And if said hot guy just happens to be interested in Kyuhyun as well — and he is very grateful to whichever passing deity decided to take pity on his non-existent love life — there’s no way Kyuhyun’s passing up the chance to enjoy the moment while it lasts. Who knows, maybe Jongwoon has some really odd habit he just hasn’t told Kyuhyun about.

“I know what you’re doing,” Jongwoon says archly, as he passes by with a tray.

“Oh?” Kyuhyun feigns innocence. He pops the last fry in his mouth, grinning widely. “I’m just sitting here, enjoying the food. If you wanted to hurry and finish up soon, that would be pretty cool.”

“Keep pushing.” Jongwoon warns, “Maybe I’ll just make you wait even longer, Kyu.”

That shuts Kyuhyun up for a moment. He resumes staring out of the window and counting the number of passersby wearing yellow hats.

***

Eventually, Jongwoon does finish his work. He’s turned out the last few stragglers by playing some unspeakably bad Euro trance track on over the cafe’s sound system, and the students can’t scuttle away fast enough. They all wear the same scandalised expressions as they mooch off into the downpour.

The staff have left too, and Jongwoon’s brother — Kyuhyun’s figured who the assistant is by now — is adding up the day’s takings at the register when he suddenly swears and hits the terminal.

“Fuck! Hyung, the damn thing’s gone and hung _again_. That’s the fifth time this week! It’s ridiculous… maybe we should call that technician to come in and have a look at it. The one who keeps coming in here and leaving his card?”

“The one who thinks we’re stupid enough to buy that package software he keeps trying to flog me? I don’t think so. We’re not that desperate.” Jongwoon goes over the table he’s cleaning once more with a dishcloth, his expression thunderous. 

“Ah, hyung…”

“Don’t argue, Jongjin! We can’t afford it.” Jongwoon snaps. He goes behind the counter to have a look at the system and snarls at the screen in frustration. The sound of it, Kyuhyun thinks, would be intensely arousing in a less stressful situation. Hell, it _is_ pretty fucking hot even now, when Jongwoon is obviously annoyed. He would really like to hear it when they’re alone in private.

And Kyuhyun’s not going to let a little glitch ruin his evening. Not after he’s spent the last hour and a half thinking about what exactly he’d like to do when Jongwoon finally finishes work.

“Let me have a look,” he offers, getting up from his seat and pushing past Jongwoon and Jongjin before either brother can say anything. “It can’t be worse than anything I’ve seen today.”

Jongjin steps aside easily enough. Apparently he’s got a date with a girl from his university. 

“Make sure you lock up!” He calls, even as he flings his dirty apron in Jongwoon’s direction and darts away. “Oh, and don’t make a mess!”

“Smartass,” Jongwoon sniffs. He watches as Kyuhyun tries in vain to move the cursor on the register’s monitor. “Whatever it is, just please don’t tell me it’s something you can solve by turning the damn thing off and on again.”

“Well, if it’s happening this regularly, I don’t think it’s just a minor glitch.” Kyuhyun bends down and has a look at the leads connecting the register to the power outlet and phone lines. He can’t see much from here; most of the wires lead under the counter. “Do you mind if I have a look?”

Jongwoon nods and Kyuhyun gets down on all fours, pushing various boxes and huge ziplock bags of coffee beans out of the way. The register’s power cord is old and fraying, and caked with accumulated dust and coffee grinds. The phone cable looks even worse. He tells Jongwoon this over his shoulder as he disconnects the plugs and cable, mentions the possibility of reformatting the hard drive on the register after backing up all of the cafe’s important data.

“... And it’s not that difficult to do. It’d take you about two hours at the most. I can do it for you, if you’d like. Mostly these things like to throw a fit whenever they get a bit old. Your software’s at least two years out of date, too. I’ve been out to the cafes my company supplies and they’re all using newer versions that run twice as quickly as what you’ve got here. I could probably find you something better, actually. Not that I’m not swamped at work, but something like this is so much easier to deal with than people asking me why they can’t watch porn at their desk, you know?”

Dusting himself off, Kyuhyun stands back up and turns to looks at Jongwoon, after realising he’s basically been monologuing for the better part of three minutes. Sometimes he does tend to go on about technical things, especially when it’s an easy problem to solve and isn’t accompanied by mountains of paperwork.

He doesn’t expect to have Jongwoon invade his private space all of a sudden. Jongwoon backs him up against the counter, dark eyes alight, and Kyuhyun has a creeping feeling he might have made himself a bit of a sitting duck.

“Uh… I suppose I could start on your register after finishing the girl from market —” 

“You’re very, very cute, Kyuhyun.” Jongwoon says, his voice low and rough. It sends a shiver of excitement down Kyuhyun’s spine. “Especially when you’re being helpful. But you’re talking too much.”

Kyuhyun can’t think of anything more intelligible to say in response other than, “Uhhh?”

“Shut up.” Jongwoon’s breath ghosts along Kyuhyun’s neck. Kyuhyun tries not to shiver.

“Make me.”

So Jongwoon kisses him.

Kyuhyun hasn’t been kissed for so long he’s nearly forgotten what to do. For a moment he just stands there and lets Jongwoon kiss him while his brain races and he tries to work out the best way to respond.

Sensing his hesitation, Jongwoon begins to pull away, just as Kyuhyun’s brain finally kicks into gear and signals ‘NO!!!!!! Kissing good!!!!’ in big red flashing letters. He yanks on the front of Jongwoon’s shirt and pulls him closer, so that Kyuhyun’s backed up against the counter and Jongwoon is pressing into him, all dangerous, spicy musk and dark coffee taste. A happy moan escapes Kyuhyun and suddenly he’s kissing Jongwoon back as hard as he can, giving everything he’s got and then some. God, Jongwoon tastes unbelievable, and Kyuhyun doesn’t know if it’s because he’s been deprived of physical intimacy for so long, or if it’s just Jongwoon being so amazingly attractive even after a full day of waiting tables and making lattes, but it feels like the best kiss he’s ever had. 

Jongwoon’s tongue pushes past Kyuhyun’s lips, slippery and impatient, one hand cradling the back of Kyuhyun’s head to hold him in place while the other slides down the front of Kyuhyun’s trousers and cups his growing erection, rubbing at the head of his cock through the layers of cloth. Kyuhyun mewls, arching into Jongwoon’s touch, the heat of it sending shockwaves of pleasure through his body. He tries to reciprocate, but he gets distracted because Jongwoon is untucking his shirt and Kyuhyun realises how much he wants Jongwoon to touch him, skin to skin. Jongwoon’s palm skims over his back and Kyuhyun is trying desperately not to tear at his staid business tie and pull off his shirt so they can get right to the good part where Jongwoon fucks him right here on the countertop.

Somewhere outside, a car backfires. The sound of it breaks them apart momentarily, and Kyuhyun notes with smug satisfaction that Jongwoon is breathing as heavily as he is. The other man’s cheeks are flushed red and Kyuhyun feels another thrill of excitement go through him as he registers the substantial bulge at the front of Jongwoon’s jeans. He’s done that to Jongwoon. Just him.

They catch each other’s eyes and Jongwoon bursts into laughter. “Oh, Cho Kyuhyun. You are definitely nothing like I thought you were going to be.”

It sounds like a compliment. Kyuhyun fiddles with the knot on his tie while he thinks of something witty to say and fails. “I’m guessing that’s a good thing?”

“It is,” Jongwoon says, unpicking the knot and sliding the tie free. “When I saw you last week, I thought you were the most gorgeous little office boy I’d ever seen. And I’ve been delivering coffee around your area for quite a few years, so that’s no mean feat. But you looked so shy! I thought you were going to be like those boring old accounts people who never smile or say thank you when I serve them.” He smiles and presses a finger against Kyuhyun’s lips. “I suppose I should have said something first, but you don’t expect things like hot strangers approaching you in the middle of a rainstorm to happen, do you? Anyway, I was in such a rush that day and I didn’t want to come off all creepy like some obsessed stalker type. But you came over with that umbrella of yours, and I thought you had the most adorable smile, Kyu. You’re such an idiot, trying to make me believe you’re a boring little IT man. I didn’t think I was going to see you tonight, you know. And then you waltz in here and give me a customised umbrella and offer to fix my computer. What am I supposed to think now?”

“Sorry.” Kyuhyun’s not one for insincere apologies. Not most of the time anyway. He grins widely, licks at the tip of Jongwoon’s finger.

“You’re not.” Jongwoon breathes in sharply as Kyuhyun takes his finger into his mouth, nipping gently at the tip. “Oh, teeth as well? What other secrets are you keeping from me?”

Desire makes Kyuhyun bold. He sucks hard on Jongwoon’s finger, slides his tongue around it, draws it in deeper. Looks up at Jongwoon and tries to keep his expression coy.

“Secrets? I don’t have any secrets, Jongwoon-ssi.”

Kyuhyun yelps as Jongwoon surges forward, pinning him even more forcefully against the counter. The edge of it digs into his back. He smiles.

“Well… a confession, maybe. See, I know we’re supposed to get to know each other better, go out for dinner dates, that sort of thing. I know how this is supposed to work. We got to do the dating before we get to the… to the good stuff. But — ”

“But…?” Jongwoon is infuriatingly close and Kyuhyun wants to remember what he was going to say, but it’s hard when Jongwoon is beginning to unbutton his shirt, his fingers surprisingly nimble and delicate.

“But I was wondering if maybe we could do it the other way around.”

What Kyuhyun doesn’t expect is for Jongwoon’s answering growl to sound as feral as it does. He is prepared when Jongwoon claims his lips again, though. Sliding his fingers through Jongwoon’s messy dark hair, Kyuhyun tangles his tongue with Jongwoon’s, hungry for whatever Jongwoon has to give. They bite and lick at each other, tasting and marking, and then Jongwoon makes this noise in his throat that makes Kyuhyun want to sink to his knees right here, fuck anyone who happens to looking in.

“God.” Jongwoon manages to pull himself away, right before Kyuhyun can do anything. “Sorry. I swear, I’m not usually like this with guys I’ve only just met.”

“I hope not!” Kyuhyun laughs, feeling like this fragile dream could end any moment, “You know… I didn’t really think I was going to actually come in here and give you the umbrella. I was so nervous. You’re… I mean, when I saw you on the street, I thought there was no way you’d look twice at me. People usually like you don’t find me very interesting. It’s kind of crazy for me too, you know. The last time I got kissed seems like a thousand years ago. Before the last ice age... I do want to get to know you better, Jongwoon-ssi. It’s just… I just _really_ want you now.”

Jongwoon reaches around and grabs Kyuhyun’s ass, his hands wedging themselves between the cold metal of the countertop and the material of Kyuhyun’s trousers. He squeezes lightly and Kyuhyun whimpers, bucking up against Jongwoon. Their clothed erections rub at each other and the friction of it is driving Kyuhyun crazy.

“I promise I’ll take you to dinner and movies and shit like that,” Jongwoon says, after they kiss for a third time. “Treat you nice. Buy you presents. Deliver coffee to your desk when you have to deal with idiots from Human Resources. Bring you to nice restaurants on the weekend.”

“Yes, yes,” Kyuhyun moans, trying to work out if he can unbutton Jongwoon’s shirt and kiss simultaneously.

“I’ll do all of that, Kyuhyun. I promise.” Jongwoon sounds so serious now, Kyuhyun almost wants to say that nothing has happened yet, that Jongwoon doesn’t owe him anything.

Instead, he takes Jongwoon’s hand, not quite believing what he’s about to say. It’s madness, of course. Complete and utter madness. But Kyuhyun’s always believed in being adaptable. And he really, _really_ wants Jongwoon in his bed. The relationship stuff can wait for a night. He’s always been so careful about being _proper_ about his needs and desires for so much of his life. His last boyfriend was the incredibly sweet, infinitely boring friend of his cousin’s, who never wanted to do anything more than sit in front of the television and eat jajangmyun whilst watching DVDs. Which was nice. But boring. Kyuhyun’s sick of boring.

Jongwoon is different. Kyuhyun’s known that since they first passed each other on the street. Has felt the irresistible spark of attraction between them even before he opened his mouth and offered Jongwoon the shelter of his umbrella. It makes him want to be impulsive, to do things without calculating probabilities and risks involved. One moment of stupidity. It surely can’t be all that bad.

“You can do all that afterwards. Right now it’s raining, and I gave you the only umbrella I had, so can you take me home?”

***

By some miracle, they actually do manage to last the forty minute drive back to Kyuhyun’s apartment. Jongwoon’s little Mazda looks older than his computer, but it runs well and Kyuhyun is grateful he’s not slumming it on the subway like he normally would. Especially on a night like tonight, when great sheets of water are tumbling down from the sky. It’s supposed to be summer, of course, but apparently someone forgot to tell the weather gods.

They make small talk in the car. Kyuhyun considers this the first part of his getting to know Jongwoon. They tell each other their life stories. Kyuhyun reveals that his present apartment in is his first since he graduated from college and moved out of his parents’ home in Gangnam. He’s renting at the moment, but hopes to save enough money to buy his own place one day. Jongwoon replies by explaining that he lives with his brother in a small house near their cafe, which makes it easier for both of them, although Jongwoon thinks that his brother might be tiring of having to share their cramped living space.

Kyuhyun says he’s interested in gaming, Jongwoon professes a near obsession with movies and the films of Quentin Tarantino. They both agree on the importance of sleeping in late, though Jongwoon confesses he finds it hard to stay asleep when he hears people moving around whilst Kyuhyun proudly states that he can sleep through anything. The car stops at a red light on an empty street near Kyuhyun’s apartment, and Jongwoon leans over and kisses Kyuhyun again. This time he does it gently, soft and tender and Kyuhyun only just stops himself from reaching over and pulling Jongwoon straight onto his lap.

“Just so we’re clear: in the very near future I plan on cooking you the best meal you ever had. I’m going to get to know the real Kyuhyun you bury under this business suit, because I can already tell he’s fascinating and because you shouldn’t ever believe you’re boring or dull,” Jongwoon’s voice is rich and intoxicating, like the headiest brandy. Kyuhyun wants to close his eyes and drown in it. “After all of that I’ll make love to you until we’re both too exhausted to get out of bed and your voice is gone because you’ve been screaming my name all night. How does that sound?”

Kyuhyun whimpers.

The final few metres back to his apartment feel like they last several lifetimes, but they finally get to Kyuhyun’s small loft and nearly break the door down. Kyuhyun fumbles with his keys whilst trying to pin Jongwoon against the wall. Jongwoon’s hand is groping at his ass, which isn’t making it any easier. Kyuhyun drops his keys several times, swears, jabs at the lock on his door and curses the intricate security system he put in place when he first moved into the apartment. As soon as he opens the door, a pre-programmed voice tells him he has thirty seconds to input his security password into a reader by the door to disarm the burglar alarm, which he does, to Jongwoon’s evident amusement.

“This is me,” he says, rather unnecessarily, and drags Jongwoon through so they can get back to more important matters. Like how to get Jongwoon out of that shirt and into Kyuhyun’s bed.

Jongwoon follows Kyuhyun in obediently, but stops and stares at the display shelf next to Kyuhyun’s large-screen television. 

“Are those action figures?” He asks, pointing at Kyuhyun’s carefully constructed diorama. He wanders over and stares at the tiny figurines. “They’re so tiny!”

Oddly enough, Jongwoon doesn’t sound horrified, just amazed. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, suddenly wants the ground to swallow him. “They’re uh… they’re part of my Starcraft board game. It’s been a while since I played, but I like having it on display. Not that I… Everyone who comes here knows I’m a sad nerd, so they kind of expect to see things like that. I arranged it one day when I was bored. I know, it’s pretty lame, huh?”

Kyuhyun turns his head and catches Jongwoon watching him. He blushes. “What?”

“You’re adorable.” Jongwoon whispers, he leans in, cups Kyuhyun’s face in his hands. There’s nothing in his tone to suggest he’s mocking Kyuhyun, or pitying him. Instead there’s just quiet affection. “Stop worrying about what I think of you, Kyu. I promise you it isn’t anything bad. Quite the opposite.”

“But —” There is a lifetime’s worth of stories that Kyuhyun wants to tell Jongwoon about being at school and being _different_ and finding solace in computer games where he was in control of his destiny. He wants Jongwoon to understand.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Jongwoon takes Kyuhyun’s hand. “I knew the moment I saw you walk over to me with that umbrella that you weren’t like any of the office workers I’ve ever met. So you like computer games, so what? I like tortoises and turtles so much I put one on my cafe logo. They don’t have anything to do with coffee! I don’t care if you don’t go out and party in nightclubs every Saturday night, or if you like to compose poetry in your spare time. I get it, OK? I like you because you took such a mad chance offering me shelter and because you’re sweet enough to worry about a stranger so much that you actually made me my own umbrella. That tells me all I need to know. Now, come on. You can show me the rest of your place later. I only want to see one room right now.”

Kyuhyun can’t help the huge grin spreading across his face. He laughs, half-disbelieving still, but pulls Jongwoon in the direction of his bedroom. His bed is unmade and his pyjamas (with red robots and green monkeys) are in full view on top of a pillow, but Kyuhyun figures Jongwoon won’t really mind. He kicks the comforter off the bed, throws his pyjamas on top of it, and drags Jongwoon onto the mattress.

“I have something to tell you,” he says breathlessly, as they divest each other of their clothing. Kyuhyun almost rips Jongwoon’s shirt off because his hands are shaking so much. “That umbrella. I — uh. I wish I could say that I did that out of the goodness of my heart. But I’m not that nice; I might have made that for you because I thought you were really hot and I wanted to try and ask you out…”

Jongwoon makes a snuffly sort of noise and buries his head in the crook of Kyuhyun’s neck. Kyuhyun barely has time to wonder what this means before Jongwoon is kissing him again. Then Jongwoon gets a leg over Kyuhyun’s waist and rolls them so that he’s straddling Kyuhyun. He looks so perfect, his body limned in moonlight, dark eyes hungry. Kyuhyun helps Jongwoon get the last of his clothes off and then finds his arms pinned above his head, and a very naked, very horny Jongwoon pressed up against him.

“You lured me here under false pretences, Cho Kyuhyun.” Jongwoon’s breath caresses the curve of Kyuhyun’s ear. His voice is treacherously seductive; it’s so dangerously low and smokey. Kyuhyun bites back a moan, arches up against Jongwoon, ridiculously turned on and even more deliriously happy that Jongwoon is actually here. In bed. With him. 

Miracles happen sometimes.

“Yes, Jongwoon-ssi. But only a little, I swear.”

Jongwoon smile turns dazzling. Kyuhyun tells himself to keep breathing. 

“What am I going to do with you?” Jongwoon asks, and even if the question is purely rhetorical, it still makes the blood rush straight to Kyuhyun’s dick. “Coming up to me on the street during rush hour after everyone else just passed me by because you felt sorry for me. Customising a gift just because you think there might be a chance I’ll go out with you. Offering to fix my computer while you’re on your hands and knees when I’ve been thinking about you for the past week and there’s no one else in the cafe. God, I wanted to have you right there… Maybe I should teach you a lesson about being too damn sweet for your own good, Kyuhyun-ah. Would you like that?”

Kyuhyun’s brain runs through several iterations of saying yes, but after a second he gives up and moans happily when Jongwoon licks at his earlobe and takes it between his teeth. 

“Oh…mmm… fuck yes!”

Apparently it’s the right answer because Jongwoon growls long and low in his throat and sinks his teeth hard into the soft flesh at the base of Kyuhyun’s neck, sucking a mark there that Kyuhyun knows he’ll show off proudly at the office for the next week or so. Who gives a damn about guidelines on corporate attire anyway.

***

Kyuhyun loses his voice halfway through the third round of their lovemaking.

By that time, they’re both sticky with sweat and saliva and come, and Kyuhyun is pretty sure he’s pulled a muscle in his thigh. He’s not complaining at all. Especially not when Jongwoon finally lets him take control, and Kyuhyun thrusts into Jongwoon’s delicious heat, oblivious to everything else but the feel of Jongwoon around and below him and the burning urgency of his desire. He falls apart quickly, fingers shaking as his world explodes in a red haze of passion, his throat raw from calling out Jongwoon’s name. He clings to Jongwoon like a dying man afterwards, sated and sleepy, resting his head on Jongwoon’s chest and twining their fingers together.

Jongwoon chuckles. He presses a soft kiss against Kyuhyun’s lips and tells him it’s never felt like this with anyone else before. He says he can’t explain it, can’t understand the urgent need to possess Kyuhyun, to mark him as his own and chase down ecstasy. It’s never been so intense. From the quietly awestruck tone in his voice, Kyuhyun thinks Jongwoon is telling the truth. 

He smiles. That makes two of them.

Outside, the rain doesn’t stop the entire night.

***

The rain still hasn’t eased when Kyuhyun’s alarm goes off at seven the next morning. He tries to gently extricate himself from the tangle of Jongwoon’s limbs and reaches for his mobile phone. Unfortunately, the noise from the alarm has woken Jongwoon up too.

“Where’re you going?” He asks, as Kyuhyun rolls out of bed and begins to look for his clothes.

“I’ve got to go into work,” Kyuhyun says, as he makes his way towards his closet. “That computer won’t fix itself, you know. Plus, they’ll give me hell if I don’t get it done by Monday.”

Jongwoon snorts. “It can wait a few hours.” He sits up, leaning on his elbow for balance as he regards Kyuhyun with those darkly intense eyes. “Come back here.”

“I’m probably going to be fired if I don’t repair that computer,” Kyuhyun says, even as he makes his way back to the bed. He’s got a new shirt half-buttoned up and a tie dangling from his neck. “They’ll say I’m neglecting my work…”

Jongwoon tugs on the ends of Kyuhyun’s tie, pulling him back into bed before Kyuhyun can register what just happened. 

“You can have one morning off,” Jongwoon murmurs, even as he’s undoing the buttons to Kyuhyun’s shirt. “Live a little, Kyu. Let me be a bad influence on you, hmm? Just for today? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Kyuhyun wants to protest, but Jongwoon is already pushing his shirt off his shoulders, his lips following the line of Kyuhyun’s collarbone. They kiss again, and Kyuhyun moans as he feels arousal spark in his belly, hot and insistent. He reaches out for Jongwoon, even as the second alarm on his phone goes off.

He doesn’t make it into work that day. But as the rain hammers down, flooding the streets and drenching pedestrians holding umbrellas, Kyuhyun figures he definitely made the right choice in offering Jongwoon shelter a week ago.

\

_Pretty smooth, Cho._


End file.
